Anta Sports Confirms 4.7B Euro Offer for Arc’teryx Owner
The proposal positions Anta to take advantage of the push for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
BEIJING — Chinese sportswear company Anta Sports has confirmed it has put in a joint $4.7 billion euro, or $5.4 billion, offer with private equity firm FountainVest for Amer Sports, the Finnish outdoor gear maker that owns brands including Arc’teryx and Salomon.
In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Anta said its consortium of investors tendered an offer to acquire the entire share capital of Amer Sports at a cash consideration of 40 euros per share.
The transaction is subject to approval from the board and shareholders in the company holding at least 90 percent of Amer, which is listed on the Nasdaq Nordic.
Anta Sports, which saw turnover last year of 16.7 billion renminbi, or
$2.43 billion, has been actively seeking acquisition targets to globalize its business. The firm is the largest in its category in China, dressing the
Chinese Olympics team in the games in Pyeongchang and Rio de Janeiro in its eponymous product line, and also distributes brands including Fila. Acquiring Amer Sports would add prestige names to its business and position it to take advantage of the governmentsponsored push for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022.
Aside from Arc’teryx and Salomon, Amer Sports also owns Swedish fashion label Peak Performance, and a number of sporting goods brands such as Wilson, the tennis racket manufacturer, Louisville Slugger baseball bats and Atomic skis.
According to Jefferies analyst Jessica
Fei, Anta could help the brands further penetrate the Chinese market. For the fiscal year of 2017, Amer recorded relatively modest sales in China of
120 million euros, up 15 percent year- over-year.
She noted also that “it is likely that Anta will bring more private equity firms in addition to FountainVest Partners to join the acquisition,” although “Anta expects to hold [more than] 50 percent stake and take on major operational responsibilities.”